Volunteer fire crews practice water operations Saturday
BAINBRIDGE — Firefighters obviously need water to put out a blaze. There are different factors, though, which play into how it gets to and is able to be utilized in the first place.
Volunteer crews from the Clinton Township, Floyd Township, Roachdale, Russellville and Bellmore fire departments went over the essentials of establishing and maintaining a water supply with the Bainbridge Volunteer Fire Department Saturday morning.
The overarching operation was drafting. This is suctioning water from a static source (i.e. a lake, pond or tank) into an engine. The water is then discharged from the pumper from lines. While this might seem simple enough, changes in elevation and atmospheric pressure have to be taken into account.
The training was what Bainbridge Fire Chief Kevin Thorson called a “breakdown version” of how to apply different techniques. These included drafting from a drop tank to a pumper, as well as truck-to-truck and siphoning water between two drop tanks.
Once command is established at a scene, personnel have to consider different elements like search and rescue and how to attack the fire. But if it is not established at the outside, initial water supply will run out quickly. The end-goal is having the supply be continuous.
With a fire in a rural area, there are nuances with what it takes to go from the fireground to a water source. While dry hydrants are primary links, crews have to get creative with drawing from creeks and ponds when need be. The downfall is overworking them as well as the truck.
“Through the training, we try to establish a more continuous water flow for an offensive fire, which would be going inside,” Thorson said. “Every scene is different; everybody commands a little differently. Those are the things that we need to focus and work on — not just within one department, but in multiple departments.
“If we can process this water supply nearby to where it’s more uniform from fire to fire, everybody kind of knows the next steps so we can try to take seconds off,” he added. “I wouldn’t want to be on the end of a hose and I’m hearing, ‘We’re out of water.’”
With any scene, fire crews have to not only figure out Plan A, but also Plan B, C, D and E. It is planning for the worst, hoping for the best and always trying to stay one step ahead. Slow is smooth and smooth is fast.
“What we did by the drafting is, in a sense, part of the challenges that we face as departments,” Thorson said. “I try to think of ways to where we can shorten some steps ... to where we can try to simplify it, to where we all know what we’re wanting to attain in the end.
“It’s not just how many people we have to show up for each run,” he added. “It’s also that when they show up, they know how to set the system up, because they may be command on that day, whether they’re an officer or not.”
Thorson suggested that the training stresses cooperation between the different volunteer departments and the career Greencastle Fire Department. It becomes necessary for each agency’s personnel to reinforce and pass on this knowledge.
“To me, we do the same things,” Thorson provided. “They rely on us as much as we rely on them. It’s kind of a give-take-type situation. We all try to work together as much as we can.”
Thorson said having this kind of training can be “kind of a headache” working around different schedules. While this can be worked out, he emphasized that it helps unify for that critical moment to work “like a machine” instead of opposites.
“Steel sharpens steel,” he said. “If we can work with what we have, that’s great; but if we can combine a couple of things to make something a little bit better in house, that’s even better.”